Sheffield United vs Tottenham: Son back in business in a BTTS match

• The last five between these two at Bramall Lane saw both teams scoring

• Spurs missing key injured trio

• Heung min-Son has outstanding record in the FA Cup

---

Sheffield United v Tottenham
Wednesday March 1, 19:55
Live on BBC One

Strong season for the Blades

The Blades did things the hard way to get to this round of the FA Cup.

Against a Wrexham side who's become many people's second team after a certain documentary, they drew 3-3 in Wales, needing a 90th minute equaliser from John Egan to enforce a replay.

They made their greater experience count in the replay, winning 3-1, but left it late, their second and third goals only coming in second-half injury time.

And they look well on course for automatic promotion. Catching Burnley may be a step too far but they're currently seven points ahead of Middlesbrough in second place. That said, they've been a little inconsistent of late with two wins, two losses and a draw in their last five league encounters.

The bad news is that one of those two losses was against promotion rivals Boro.

But given they're in such a good position in the league, they should field a full-strength side here and see how far they can go.

Spurs bouncing back

It's a huge two weeks coming up for Tottenham with a big FA Cup match here, followed by a league game against Wolves and that massive second leg tie against Milan in the Champions League.

They come into this one after back-to-back 2-0 wins against West Ham and Chelsea.

Those were particularly good results considering they're missing the injured trio of Huge Lloris, Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur. The latter is almost certainly out for the season.

They've also being going well despite the poor form of Heung-Min Son. He's now started the last two on the bench, something almost unheard of in his all years at Tottenham.

But he may get a chance to rediscover his touch here. More on him in a bit.

Odds look about right on match winner market

Opta tell us that quarter-final appearances in the FA Cup have been scarce for Spurs over the past few seasons.

They haven't made it that far since the 2017-18 season, so will be hoping they can get through here and make amends to that unwanted record.

The hosts are 4.3100/30, Spurs 1.84/5 and the draw is 3.814/5.

It's one of those where you could make an argument for any of those three prices.

This is a tough place to come to and United have been good all season so a spirited performance with strong vocal support could be on the cards. They could at least get the first goal and allow for a trade on the Exchange, if you're in that way inclined.

You could also argue that Spurs are on a decent run, that there's a gulf in class between the two and that if they put out their strongest side, they should just about edge it.

The draw is 3.814/5 and a second replay in a row for the Blades isn't out of the question, either.

But if none of the three stand out, best leave all of them alone.

Good reasons to think it's a BTTS match

Piling onto an odds-on shot won't be everyone but there are good reasons to think we should get goals at both ends.

It's a bet that would have paid out in each of the last five matches between the two at Bramall Lane, albeit the first of those being all the way back in 1993/4.

United certainly haven't been goal-shy.

They've now scored in 15 of their last 16 matches across this competition and the league, the odd one out being a 0-0 draw with Rotherham in early February.

Tottenham have admittedly been better at the back of late and as seen already, it's now been back-to-back clean sheets in the league. But those were at home and Chelsea and West Ham have both been pretty wasteful in front of goal these last few weeks. So, the Blades may provide a sterner test to their defence despite being in a lower division.

With all that in mind, the 1.758/11 on both teams to score looks one of the better bets of the match.

Son to bite back

Time to talk about that man Son.

There's every chance that he might return to the starting line-up for this one. Firstly because he's been lively in his two appearances off the bench, scoring a goal shortly after coming on against West Ham.

Secondly because neither Richarlison or Dejan Kulusevski really made much of an impact as the two who between them took his place.

And thirdly because Antonio Conte will feel he's made his point in that no-one is immune from being dropped.

And this is certainly the competition for him. Opta tell us he's been involved in 25 goals in 27 FA Cup appearances (14 goals, 11 assists) and with a point to prove of his own, looks a good bet at 5/6 to score or assist.

Bet Builder to consider

If you think a replay could be on the cards again for the Blades, you back e stalemate at 11/4 and put that together with over 0.5 first half goals (2/7) to get your Bet Builder up to odds of 5.34.